Calgary defence lawyer says client was wrongly accused

Sandoval-Barillas is on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting a then 16-year-old girl October of 2013 close to the Rundle LRT station. He has also been accused of threatening her with a weapon.

Milczarek told the jury that the victim is accusing his client whom she did see at the LRT Station minutes before the assault happened.

The lawyer further added that because the victim was intoxicated, she had wrongly assumed that it was his client who had assaulted her but that it wasn't him and someone else.

However, the crown prosecutor has contradicted Milczarek's defense of his client and said that Sandoval-Barillas' claim that he had left the station a few minutes after the victim did to get a cab and not to follow and assault her, was not believable.

A video taken by surveillance cameras had the two taking a train at the Whitehorn station.

The case has been submitted to the jury for deliberation.

Calgary immigration lawyer said it is not over for his client yet

Posted Jun 30, 2015 on www.cbc.ca

Legal options have not run out for Imam Abdi Hersy despite losing his refugee protection status, according to Raj Sharma, the immigration lawyer from Calgary.

Sharma said that Hersy will be appealing the decision handed down by the Immigration and Refugee Board at the Federal Court.

The board's decision is in relation to the sexual charges that Hersy is facing in Minnesota, USA, where he used to work as a respiratory therapist in 2006.

At that time, Hersy came to Canada and successfully got himself protection as a refugee of Somalia.

The Canadian Border Services Agency, however, accused Hersy of mispresentation and worked on stripping him of his refugee status in 2013.

The agency succeeded but Hersy appealed his case to the Federal Court which sided with him.

Sharma said Hersy hopes for a repeat of that compassion that the Federal Court had shown him then.

Hersy had maintained his innocence against the sexual allegations and that issues with his immigration had kept him from proving he is not guilty.

Pastor nets jail for possessing child pornography

Posted Jun 18, 2015 on www.edmontonsun.com

Richard John Docekal, who used to be a pastor in Edmonton, will be spending six months in jail after he submitted a guilty plea to possession of child pornography.

The 59-year-old Docekal admitted to having a large collection of pornographic materials of drawings in cartoons depicting children having sexual relations with their parents.

Ed O'Neill, a lawyer in Edmonton defending for the disgraced pastor, said that his client has regretted his misdeed which resulted to him no longer serving as a pastor.

Docekal's marriage also became a casualty of his unsavory hobby and he was also subjected to public humiliation after his arrest landed on the front pages of the news, said the lawyer.

The pastor's penchant for the pornographic materials came to light after the woman with whom he had an affair blew the whistle on him.

Man pleads guilty to dangerous driving, hit-and-run

Posted Feb 03, 2015 on www.edmontonjournal.com

Brandon James Hudson submitted a guilty plea to several counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and hit-and-run in relation to an incident which happened in the afternoon of September 24 last year.

While high on drugs, Hudson had stolen his stepfather's sedan and drove through the streets inflicting injury to several people.

Hudson, however, could not remember anything that happened on that fateful day, according to Edmonton lawyer Anna Konye, who is defending him.

Hudson's atrocities did not stop when his very damaged vehicle refused to start, he tried to flee the police on foot and when he was finally detained, he attacked his cellmate.

The Crown prosecutor told the court that at the time of his arrest, Hudson was mumbling about people going after him and how he could not escape them.

A hearing for his sentencing has yet to be scheduled as Hudson has been ordered to go through a psychiatric exam.

Allen said the statement is not reliable and is detrimental to Streiling.

Streiling is charged with the death of his toddler stepson, Noah Cownden.

Cownden, who would have turned two years old if he had not died three days before his birthday, had suffered an injury to his head. His death in 2008 was at first thought of as an accident.

Five years after, Streiling was charged following his admission to an undercover agent that he had caused Cownden's death by banging the little boy's head on the floor.

The Crown prosecutor has been urging the judge to admit Streiling's statement because it was consistent with the other proof submitted for the case.

The judge, however, said she will hand in a decision next month yet.

Vancouver constable found guilty but also had his rights violated

Posted Mar 13, 2015 on www.nelsonstar.com

Stephen Todd, a former member of Vancouver police, has been found guilty of improperly accessing police database and giving information to his relative, who was under investigation.

However, Wally Oppal, who adjudicated the complaint against Todd, also dismissed accusations that Todd was being deceitful, displayed discreditable conduct and neglected bis duty.

Oppal slammed officers for denying Todd his right to get advice from a legal counsel or even from just the union during the time he was being questioned to obtain information about his relative.

Kevin Woodall, a lawyer in Vancouver, said Todd welcomes the decision and that he is happy to be absolved of the grave allegations.

Todd has been fired as a result of the deceitful accusations, which have now been dismissed.

The complaints against Todd stemmed from an incident in 2010 wherein Todd had accessed the police database to satisfy the curiosity of his family. It was then that he found out that one of his relatives was under investigation. Todd then accessed the database two more times.

However, according to Oppal, the way Todd was investigated was appalling wherein he was told that charges were ready to be filed against him. The investigators also resorted to fabricating a letter advising Todd that upon a judge's order, his personal communications were monitored.